Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, c. 1872 to 1932

William Kenefick

Abstract

This book explores the rise and decline of left radicalism in Scotland c. 1872 to 1932. A journey through these turbulent times observes the response of Scottish artisans to legal restrictions on trade-union activities in the 1870s, trade union formation among the unskilled from the late 1880s, and the origins and impact of the Scottish socialist movement. The Labour movement in Scotland was to face many new challenges by the twentieth century. During the era of ‘Red Scotland’, 1910 to 1922, we see Scottish workers fully engaged in the labour and social unrest in the years before the Great War ... More

This book explores the rise and decline of left radicalism in Scotland c. 1872 to 1932. A journey through these turbulent times observes the response of Scottish artisans to legal restrictions on trade-union activities in the 1870s, trade union formation among the unskilled from the late 1880s, and the origins and impact of the Scottish socialist movement. The Labour movement in Scotland was to face many new challenges by the twentieth century. During the era of ‘Red Scotland’, 1910 to 1922, we see Scottish workers fully engaged in the labour and social unrest in the years before the Great War; the incubation of workers' grievances during the war; the growth of the anti-war movement and the influence of revolutionary politics from 1918; and Scottish Labour on the threshold of an extraordinary political breakthrough by 1922. The 1920s saw the rapid rise of Labour, but growing unemployment and a massive emigration of Scottish workers helped to fragment the left and set in motion the decline of left radicalism in Scotland. This book represents a major and up-to-date survey of the most dramatic years in the history of Scottish Labour.